What is a decent DOCSIS3.0 modem with WiFi?

What is a decent DOCSIS3.0 modem with WiFi?

My son is going to be a freshman at college and we put a deposit down on an apartment which will assign him an arbitrary roommate when they get there in the beginning of August.

I have to make a choice if he will use his unlimited data (but tethering is limited to 7GB) cellphone plan, or if they will get cable.

To get price comparisons, I started calling around for WiFi access for them (to compare against the cellphones used as hotpots).

Comcast tells me the Internet is $45/month for 25Mbps down and 5Mbps up, $50 for the installation, and $10/month for the modem rental, with no taxes or surcharges (all of which might likely be split with the unknown roommate).

When I asked if we could bring our own modem they said that any DOCSIS3.0 modem will work, so, I googled and found plenty.

I pretty much known absolutely nothing about modems, but, I do know routers a little so, I'm assuming I want an integral 802.11n 4-port wireless router (unless there is some advantage to a separate router?).

Maybe some of you are on cable? What do you look for in a DOCSIS3.0 modem?

Reply to
D. F. Manno
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And how does the speed of tethered or hotspot WiFi from the cellphone (4G/LTE) speeds compare with cable?

Reply to
D. F. Manno

Word on the street is that you can frequently get the installation fee waived. It probably wouldn't hurt to ask. I've also seen recommendations to check

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to see what they have. For example, the 50/5 service appears to be $45/mo for 12 months.

I'm with Time Warner at the moment, and they recently rolled out a free upgrade to 300/20 Mbps, so I needed a new modem to be able to handle the higher speeds. I purchased an Arris (used to be Motorola) SB-6183.

Likewise, my router would have been a severe bottleneck, so I purchased a TP-Link Archer C9.

IMHO, separate modem and router devices provide more flexibility, both now and in the future. Since the ISP controls the modem, if you get a combo unit you're at their mercy even for the router access. Plus, with a combo unit, if you want to upgrade or change just the router, for example, you have to change the modem too. With separate units, you just upgrade or replace the one device.

I think cellular data will end up costing more and will be slower than cable, plus it probably has a monthly cap, but hey, it's mobile so it's available nearly everywhere, if that's important.

Reply to
Char Jackson

There's no such thing as a cable modem with Wi-Fi. However, you can buy what Comcast calls a "gateway" that has a modem, router, wi-fi, and ethernet switch included. Other versions include two telephone ports if you subscribe to the phone service. If you go this route, try to get a Gateway 3 as the previous versions are horrible.

What I'm pushing is a Motorola SB6141 DOCSIS 3.0 modem. Costco has them for $75.

For a router/wireless/switch, I'm partial to Linksys EA2700 dual band router mostly because I bought a bunch and got a really good price. However, they're hard to find these daze. Some others (refurbished):

If you're going to subscribe to Comcast phone service, everything changes as there are no cable modems that are on the approved list: Check DOCSIS 3.0 and Retail boxes and the only device that does telephony is the Arris TG862G, which is an all in one "gateway". It's also the original Comcast "Gateway 1" which methinks doth suck.

Very roughly, if you rent, Comcast amortizes the cost of the "gateway" over 12 to 18 months. So, if your son is going to be using the modem for less than this period, you might as well rent it from Comcast. If longer, then buy something.

In my never humble opinion, the winning strategy is to rent as little as possible from Comcast. That's fairly easy, as long as you don't use their telephone service.

Good luck.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

So you recommend separate units, for flexibility? Is there a downside to the separate units?

The unlimited cellular has a monthly cap of 7GB for tethering and hotspotting, so, I agree that this is a negative on cellular data.

The positive is that there is no new equipment needed. And no installation fee (although I saw they sometimes wave it).

Reply to
D. F. Manno

Oh. I didn't realize that.

That's probably what we want.

I don't see any advantage of having a phone, unless the cellular coverage is spotty.

Ooooh. I like Costco. I didn't know they sold them. That's probably what I will get, if it's in the stores out here.

I happen to like power, although the kids don't know any better. The more power, the better I say (yes, I know about noise).

That's an interesting gotcha! I don't think they'll get phone service, but, it's a great question to ask the roommate when we meet the family.

I would never have understood that suggestion if you hadn't explained the detail about the phone service modems not being available for purchase. Thanks!

Reply to
D. F. Manno

Whil OT for an iPhone group, each cable system has a set of "approved" models that will work with their CMTS. And these approved models generally have cable operator specific patches. For instance, in Canada,

When you get a modem, its WAN side MAC address must be registered with the cable operator and associated with your subscription. Some cable operators will not register modems they have not sold to you (since there is no garantee they are compatible with the right revision/pathches.).

modems even if they are the same models. (because each cable operator needs different firware patches).

Reply to
JF Mezei

Comcast told me I can get any DOCSIS3.0 modem and it would work so that's not the case here in the states (thank heaven).

Jeff mentioned they "control" the modem, and you mention they "register" the WAN side MAC.

In general, do they let you have root privileges on the modem if you buy it yourself?

Reply to
D. F. Manno

I pay $75 per *year* for my phone service: If your son has cable internet, an independent VoIP provider is a good way to go.

Grrr... I have customers in areas where too much wi-fi has made

2.4GHz unusable. I've had to switch them to 5GHz to minimize the interference. High power also creates an "alligator", which is a critter with tiny ears and a big mouth, just like your high power wi-fi setup. Ideally, you would want the transmit and receive range to be identical. By increasing the access point power, you'll end up with far more transmit ranget than the access point could possibly hear. That's little better than a jammer. You'll also get complaints like: "I have a strong signal from the access point, but I can't connect" which is beause the access point can't hear the puny smartphone signal.

I screwed up. I forgot that the Arris TM822G telphony cable modem is on the approved list: About $130 or $63 seller refurbished: The modem speed specs are similar to the SB6141 (8x4 channels). I've only resold one of these. No problems over the last 18 months.

Well, I lied, errr... screwed up. Sorry for the muddle. You can get a modem specifically for the Comcast phone service (TM822G). Actually, you could use seperate boxes for the internet cable modem, and the voice cable modem. However, no wi-fi. That's the way Comcast business class systems are leased and installed. However, that option is not available for residential service.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

I use Ooma. The call quality stinks (but my Internet connection also stinks, so, I can't blame the Ooma without knowing more as my jitter is too high.

That's free, for life. There is only a one-time charge for the Ooma, and the darn tax (I'm registered in Kansas, where the tax is lower).

Yes. I knew power means noise.

That's also good to know, but I think these kids don't even really know what to do with a landline-style phone anyway.

They may want TV, but, pretty much they never watch TV anyway, as they're always on their computers (hulu and the like).

Do you think they allow root access to the modem if I buy the Costco one?

Reply to
D. F. Manno

[This is a UK-centric answer, so unlikely to be helpful to the O/P]

Virtually all cable TV/broadband here is owned by Virgin Media (i.e. Liberty Global with a licence to use the Virgin name) they provide the cable modem and the customer can't replace it, so there's no market for third party modems here, only for ethernet routers.

However instead of a modem, where the customer requires their own router, Virgin can supply what they call a Super Hub, that's a combined modem, ethernet+wifi router.

So there *is* such a thing, at least over here.

Reply to
Andy Burns

No, Comcast doesn't allow admin access to the cable modem. Comcast installs their proprietary firmware, which drastically limits what can be done by the user. The need for proprietary firmware is why the list of Comcast approved modems is fairly small. If you get lucky and can find an admin password, it changes every day. Modems are authenticated and provisioned on power up via DHCP extensions from the CMTS (cable modem termination server). There's little left that can be changed by the user. User access to the modem's built in web server is limited to status and diagnostics pages.

This is another reason why I like to seperate the cable modem from everything else. Comcast has the right to lock down their part of the puzzle, but everything else (router and wifi) should be under the control of the user.

Reply to
Jeff Liebermann

I have family in Kansas who use Comcast Triple Play (Internet, TV, Phone), and they were given the option to provide their own cable modem to eliminate the monthly modem rental. Bottom line, they have two modems: one provided by Comcast for phone only (no modem rental charge), and the other was purchased and is used for Internet and TV (also no modem rental charge).

I'm currently in TWC country, and I'm doing the same here. Two modems, no modem rental charges.

Reply to
Char Jackson

Just the obvious stuff, all minor, IMHO. You'll use two electrical outlets and a tiny bit more shelf/desk space for two devices versus one. There could also be additional up front cost of acquisition, depending on the choices you make, but you'll quickly forget all of that, especially if an issue arises that affects only one of the devices.

Reply to
Char Jackson

Excellent quality with Charter in SoCal for both Ooma and internet. No TV by choice. The best thing about ooma is being able to kick AT&T in the nads!

The tax is $4/month here. First year we got premium ($15/month) service for free, but it didn't offer anything that we really wanted. The device itself is generally available at Costco for $139 or so, but every once in a while there will be a sale on the things for $90 or $100, and every once in a while I get email offering a coupon for both me and the friend that signs up through my coupon number.

If you're interested, check with an ooma-friend and you both get something good. My last one expired in May :-(

Newegg had refurbished units on sale for $90 last year and currently has new ones for $109.

Reply to
The Real Bev

I use Comcast with my own cable modem (a Motorola SURFboard SB6121). My bill is $12.95/month cheaper without the equipment rental fee. Highly recommended.

Here's a list of approved modems for Comcast:

Comcast controls the modem configuration, but you can still access the modem's built-in management web page (http://192.168.100.1/) to look at how it is configured, check the logs, reset it, and so on.

Reply to
Jolly Roger

I have an SB6121 also; I was wondering whether replacing it with an SB6141 is worth the expense. My carrier is Cox Communications.

Reply to
Michelle Steiner

It seems the major difference between them is that the SB6141 can bond up to eight downlink channels while the SB6121 can bond only up to four channels. That means the SB6141 can provide double the downlink throughput of the SB6121 (SB6121: 160 Mb/s versus SB6141: 320 Mb/s). Most people don't have such speedy connections though. If your internet downlink speed is capped below ~100 Mb/s I doubt you'd notice a difference at all between the two.

Reply to
Jolly Roger

Interesting policy.

When the modem powers up, it asks the coax side for its settings. The CMTS then provisions the modem with a whole bunch of stuff, from encryption keys, your customer profile (speeds, number of IPs allowed etc), and modem specific stuff (such as disabling access to the modem from the LAN which is something canadian carriers do).

The modem manufacturers provide cable carriers who a whole bunch of options on how to restrict the modem. (similar to handset manufactyirers who give carriers ability to change home menu, disable functions, add their crapware etc).

Reply to
JF Mezei

Then probably remotely update a new modem with "their" firmware. (not talking about docsis stuff at every power up, actual firmware). That is how they could allow any modem of a certain model to work.

Reply to
JF Mezei

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